Farmers in Ecuador get around 90% of the world price, according to Ontaneda. In Ivory Coast and Ghana, by contrast, farmers receive about 60-70% of the world price at best.
“Ecuador’s production has shown steady growth (for) years. Ghana’s production has been volatile,” said Ontaneda.
A Reuters poll released earlier this month forecast that Ghana, which is battling illegal gold mining on cocoa farms and struggling to rein in the spread of swollen shoot disease, will produce just 600,000 tons of cocoa in 2025/26.
Cocoa in Ecuador is grown in agroforestry systems that support biodiversity and are crucial to preventing the spread of disease common in monoculture farming, as seen in West Africa.
These systems include growing cocoa alongside shade trees, plantains, coffee and fruit trees.
Cocoa farms in Ecuador are currently yielding an annual 800 kg per hectare, Ontaneda noted, adding the country is expected to produce more than 570,000 tons in the 2025/26 season and expects to reach 800,000 tons by the end of the decade.
The average cocoa yield in West African countries, including Ghana, is just under 500 kg per hectare, according to industry data.
(This story has been corrected to change the crop year to 2026/27 from 2025/26 in paragraph 1, and to 2025/26 from 2024/25 in paragraph 10)
